“Queen The Greatest Live” The Greatest series returns with a year-long celebration of Queen Live.

A 50-week YouTube series going behind the scenes to reveal what goes into creating a Queen show featuring moments from iconic performances and demonstrating why the band is regarded as the ultimate live act.

Queen The Greatest Live - Opening Numbers (Episode 5)

Opening with a bang!  Brian and Roger reveal the thinking behind the spectacular openings to Queen shows, and the legends who inspired them in the band's early days.

Next week: Now I'm Here

“I think for the audience, they want to be blown away at first . We used to say blind them, deafen them, and then calm down a bit after 20 minutes, but you really want to go bang, bang, bang, bang at the beginning of a show.” Roger Taylor.

Opening with a bang!  Brian and Roger reveal the thinking behind the spectacular openings to Queen shows, and the legends who inspired them in the band's early days.

As a live band famous for making an electrifying first impression, there’s a science to the Queen setlist, and in this exclusive video interview with Brian May and Roger Taylor, the two founders reveal their philosophy to starting with a bang.

“The audience want to be blown away at first,” explains Roger. “We used to say blind them, deafen them, and then calm down a bit after twenty minutes. You really want to go bang, bang, bang, bang at the beginning of a show.”

From One Vision to Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen have hit the stage over the past half-century armed with rock’s greatest rabble-rousing anthems. As Brian explains, some songs demand a place at the top of the setlist. “Sometimes, writing a song, you're already aware it would be a good opener. You see it in that light. The production starts to take place in your head. We've had some really good openers and I think generally they've come out of the music.”

Episode 5 goes on to reveal how Queen learnt the importance of building anticipation from heroes like The Who and Led Zeppelin – before looking back at classic Queen openers, from Freddie Mercury revving up the crowd with We Will Rock You to the kabuki curtain drop and the dash down the runway for Tie Your Mother Down in the Paul Rodgers period. 

“We've had some good openings,” reflects Roger. “I used to like the kabuki. The big curtain just disappears in front of your eyes and suddenly reveals all. That was always a good gag. You try and make an impact with the first song.”